


Young Dumb & Broke

by dyingpoet



Series: Javid one shots [4]
Category: Newsies - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 05:27:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15623568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dyingpoet/pseuds/dyingpoet
Summary: Money is the most common cause of stress in relationships, and Jack and Davey don't have a lot of it





	Young Dumb & Broke

**Author's Note:**

> title is from that lit Khalid song

They needed the money, plain and simple. Rent wasn’t exactly going away, and even with getting rid of their TV and being more careful with shower time and little things like that, they still really needed the money. 

Jack had suggested he take a double shift a couple more times a week so Davey could focus on school but that got shot down pretty quick. 

“We’re in this together, Jack.” Those were the exact words he’d used and he meant them.

But yeah, money was tight and they both had to work more to make ends meet, and so they saw a little less of each other. When they went to bed they were a little more tired, and had a little bit more on their minds.

Davey had a lot on his mind when he walked into the apartment Saturday night. He was exhausted for one, someone had called off for the evening shift and he’d taken it since he didn’t have a class that night. He’d texted Jack that he wouldn’t be home until around eight or nine and he hadn’t gotten back to him, which wasn’t necessarily a problem, sometimes he left his phone in a different room while he painted so he wouldn’t get distracted. 

Also their landlord had upped their utilities, hence the taking of the extra shift, so he had to talk with Jack about that which was never a fun conversation.

“Jack?”

The apartment was completely dark save for a bit of light sneaking out from a crack under their bedroom door. 

“Headphones or something,” Davey mumbled quietly. 

He took a second to kick off his shoes and lock the door before stumbling toward the bedroom, feeling more than a little bit like a moth heading for a streetlight. 

“Jack?” He pushed open the door and saw the boyfriend in question lying on his back, arms folded under his head, headphone-less, staring up at the ceiling. “Hey.”

“Hi Davey.”

The flatness of his voice scared Davey a little if he was being honest, and he moved slowly to sit cross legged on the end of the bed. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know what to do Dave,” he said, voice faltering. “I fucked up the painting this morning.”

Davey frowned. “The commission?”

A nod in response.

“Well, okay.” He really didn’t understand what was the problem. Jack ‘messed up’ at least a dozen times before he finished whatever he was working on. “You can fix it, it’s not wanted for like, two weeks right?”

“No, I can’t fix it,” Jack said, sitting up so fast Davey flinched, “it’s ruined. The whole thing’s ruined and I don’t have time to start over and I’m not going to get paid for it.”

“Jack it’s-”

“No, it’s not okay. I’m taking a loss because I wasted paint making it too, and I’ll have to replace that.”

Davey scooted forward to closer to Jack and tried to tilt his head to make eye contact. “We’ll find the money, or you can salvage what you have. I think you’re tired and you’ll feel better about it in the morning.”

He could literally see Jack refusing to process what he said, so he settled for grabbing his hand and rubbing circled into the back of it with his thumb. The muscles relaxed the slightest bit and they sat for a minute or so like that in silence. 

Davey had had his days where the stress of everything got to be too much, and Jack had comforted him while he was a crying mess enough times that he was glad to return the favor. 

“Do you remember?” Jack’s eyes moved to meet Davey’s. “Do you remember how I said I could handle it? And like, I’m supposed to be the strong one and honestly I don’t know if I can keep it together much longer.”

His voice cracked a little and Davey was about to say some  _ awesome  _ line about how neither of them had to be the strong one because they were a team when Jack just threw himself at Davey and let out a sob.

“It’s okay Jack.” Davey wrapped his arms around Jack and started rocking back and forth slowly like he used to do with Les whenever he would cry like this. “Let it out.”

“I-I’m sorry,” Jack choked out, voice muffled by Davey’s shirt.

“Nothing to be sorry for, it’s hard sometimes.”

He felt Jack nod and let him cry himself out, only pulling away once he started hiccuping, but keeping their hands clasped together. “You don’t have to be the strong one Jack, we’re in this together right?”

Jack nodded shakily and looked down at the comforter. “I know, but you have school so much and work on top of that and I feel so  _ bad _ that you have to work more. I messed up a part of the commission I was doing and felt horrible about it, I didn’t even paint the rest of the day it was such a waste.”

“It wasn’t a waste,” Davey said softly. He leaned down again until they had eye contact. “You need a break every so often, it’s good that you got one, you’ll feel better when you start again tomorrow.”

He saw Jack nod but he didn’t seem all that convinced. It was weird taking on the role of the comforter but this was honestly long overdue. If he’d had any idea that Jack was building up all that stress trying to be strong for  _ him _ -

It just, it felt bad. He felt bad.

“Hey,” he said gently, lifting Jack’s chin with his hand so they were eye to eye again, “you have off again tomorrow yeah?” 

“Yeah.”

“Ok great, I do too, and my class isn’t until four. So I can stay here until then and study while you paint. We can make tea or something and clean up too, it’ll make us both feel better.”

Jack sniffled and sat up a little straighter, it sounded like a good day for both of them. “Yeah, okay. That’ll be good.”

A grin broke out across Davey’s face and he squeezed Jack’s hands, pulling in briefly to give him a peck on the lips. “See? We’re in this together Jackie, we’ll be okay.”

He even managed to get a small smile out of Jack with the nickname and he went to turn out the light before properly crawling under the covers. Jack followed and let Davey curl into his side, head resting on his arm, and he started talking softly about school and the book they were reading for class.

Davey wasn’t sure which of them fell asleep first. Jack stopped asking questions about fifteen minutes in, so it could have been him. Or, Davey could have just fallen asleep fifteen minutes in and missed the questions entirely. It didn’t really matter. They fell asleep wrapped together and with a little less on their minds than usual, and it felt nice. 

**Author's Note:**

> I had to pull out my own teeth to get this out and it's not very long but i tried?
> 
> If you leave kudos/comments I will literally love you forever and write something for you if you give me a prompt :)


End file.
